The Scope and Structure of the Portuguese Civil Code

Abstract

The current Portuguese Civil Code was enacted in 1967 and subsequently amended a number of times. It covers the basic categories of civil law relationships (obligations, real rights, family relationships and successions mortis causa) and contains a general part with provisions governing issues common to all these kinds of legal relationships, as well as rules on the sources of the law, the efficacy, interpretation and application of laws, conflict of laws and personality rights. Commercial, labour and consumer relationships are left to specific codes and statutes, although the Civil Code, which is the common core of Portuguese Private Law, subsidiarily applies to such relationships. Thanks to its enactment in the former Overseas Provinces of Portugal, the Code also applies in several African and Asian Portuguese-speaking countries, and it has influenced the Brazilian Civil Code. It is therefore the basis of a Portuguese legal community covering four continents and comprising over 250 million people.